Death Before Life
by crystaltearsofpain
Summary: The Titans have been facing a strange increase in the crime rate in Jump City when a strange girl appears on the street. She brings a wave of murders to the streets. Robin is suspicious of the strange new hero and her peculiar behavior until he sees that for her, life can only follow death. Pairings are Rob/OC StarSpeedy AquaRae BB? and CYBee


Robin POV

In the iconic Jump City stood a tower shaped like a giant "T". The superheroes who inhabited the building called it Titans Tower. They passed every test thrown their way, some tougher than others. However, a new test was on the horizon. The team was no longer a group of teens but a group of young adults. Barely out of adolescence yet they acted with more maturity than most adults. In some areas at least. They were about to meet a new villain and his prey, the heroine with a strange attachment to music. The day started like many others; with breakfast.

The half machine man and the green bean stood in the main room of Titans Tower. The classic argument of meat vs. tofu was going on as usual. Cyborg was turning red with fury as Beast Boy had just thrown out all of the bacon in the tower. Beast Boy was turning a strange brown color because Cy had tossed all of his tofu into the trash. They could not agree on a suitable agreement to deal with the issue. While their physical appearances had changed quite a bit, they still were the dynamic duo who never quite grew up. Beast Boy had filled out his lanky arms and legs and was now nearly as tall as Cyborg. He was always looking for new pranks to play on his friends. Cy had learned how to change the colors of his electronic parts and had a habit of looking like a disco ball. The yelling was getting so intense that Raven heard them in her room. Although she could let out emotion to a degree with her father gone, Raven felt more comfortable in her room with a book in the morning. Raven now had hair that reached her waist. Her traditional leotard had been replaced with a black bodysuit with a lot of white designs and her blue cloak was now black. The Gems on her belt, hands and her Anja Charka were now a very dark blue. She had changed after the cleansing of her father's influence. With a look of fury and her muttered mantra, she phased through the floor and proceeded to use her dark magic to seal their mouths shut with duct tape. This also was a common occurrence. In spite of the team getting older, Beast Boy and Cyborg still had not learned that loud arguing from the room directly below hers was not going to endear them to her in the morning. With a sigh of relief, she transported back into her room.

Starfire floated into the kitchen where she blissfully ignored the two currently mute titans. She had developed a particularly interesting talent of ignoring everything around her when focused on a task. Starfire was now even more of a stunning beauty then she had been. Speedy had finally gathered the courage to ask the red headed alien out after it was made clear that Robin had only platonic feelings toward her. They had been dating for about three months now. While BB and Cy were hopping around the room, Star was creating another pudding that would end up causing a trip to the ER if consumed by anyone without nine stomachs. It was an average day in the tower.

Robin was in the training room working out to 80s music. Out of all of the Titans, the changes in Robin were the most subtle. He still had the bright costume, gelled hair and mask, but he was taller. He was thinking about changing his costume and name at some point but hadn't gotten around to it yet. The changes were in his methods and his style. He was more reserved, more wound up all the time. His obsession with various criminals was more severe to the point where no one could get him to come out of his "office". As "Eye of the Tiger" played, he was killing various punching bags. When all of a sudden "Popular" from the Broadway show Wicked came on, Robin turned on his communicator and used his best Batman imitation as he called Beast Boy, assuming that he was pulling another prank. Beast Boy answered the communicator with duct tape over his mouth. Robin just stared.

"Mpphh! Mpphh mph mpphh mpppphhh mph!"

"..."

"MPPHH!"

Robin turned off his communicator. He didn't really want to know what had happened. It was most likely Raven shutting the green changeling up. The green bean tried to irritate the dark enchantress just a few times too many for his wellbeing. Robin sighed and waked to the sound system. The playlist labeled "Robin Workout 1" was littered with songs from various Broadway musicals. It was a logical conclusion that BB had been messing around with his music again. The last time he had done that, Raven's music had been changed to Lady Gaga. They had needed to buy a new game station and TV for the main room. Robin was going to have to discuss all the practical jokes with BB sooner or later. While they were funny, they could become a bit too much at times.

Now that his workout had been interrupted, Robin no longer had any desire to continue training. He thought about going up to the main room but didn't really feel like watching Beast Boy try to escape the magic duct tape. Instead, Robin went out on patrol. He needed to clear his head. Lately, it was as if his head was thick with thoughts. Raven had commented on his mental state more than once in recent days. Part of the reason was the new communications with Bruce. Bruce Wayne, or Batman, had initiated contact with the Titans. It brought up mixed feelings from his past. That mixed with the strange increase in the crime rate made for a mess of thoughts.

As he sped from street to street on his motorcycle, he heard a strange thumping noise. Turning onto Main Street, he saw a strange dark shape attacking a girl dressed in a dark cloak in the middle of the street. Robin was about to call in the Titans when the girl started singing, of all things. It was as if there were speakers somewhere blasting music into the battle zone. The girl then started to do some impressive acrobatic moves while attacking the black shape. She was losing when Robin came from behind and attacked the shape. He used his bo staff to find a solid shape in the shadow and then used a flash disk to reveal a humanoid shape wrapped in dark shadow. The girl did a back handspring and then yelled at Robin to get out of the way. All of a sudden, the girl threw off the cloak to reveal a black form fitting short sleeved shirt over a short flowing rainbow colored skirt, black leggings and black boots. She had ribbon like things streaming from her wrists. The ribbons flowed from her with a kind of their own. She carefully sent a dark blue colored ribbon to wrap the dark shadow. Robin walked over to her as the shadow slowly stopped moving. With a frown on her face, the girl made a fist and the blue tightened. She closed her eyes and the blue disappeared.

With a look of surprise on his face, Robin took the last step over to the girl.

"What did you do to that thing?"

Her voice was soft and laid back with just a hint of an accent.

"I got rid of it. It wasn't the one I was after. It was just a drone sent by the real shadow creature."

The girl had long brown hair with a few multi colored streaks in a high ponytail and crystalline blue eyes.

"My name is Jay."

She held a thin hand out to Robin.

"Robin." He shook her hand.

She chuckled. "I know."

Robin smirked. "So who is it that you are after?"

Jay frowned again. "It's nothing, really. I am just passing through Jump and ran into the creature. Nothing big."

Robin didn't believe her. Her tone was too smooth and she looked away. Still, if she was going to leave Jump then it wasn't a problem for the Titans.

"Well, Jay, I suppose that if you don't need anything else, I will be on my way." Robin started to walk away. He had a feeling that they would meet again. Jay turned and flew up into the clouds. It was only after she had left that he realized that the music had stopped playing.

Back at the tower, Star had finished in the kitchen and was now at "the mall of shopping" with Raven getting new clothes and old books. Beast Boy and Cyborg had gotten out of the magic duct tape and were at the arcade, trying to win the Ultra Mega Game Station 6.75. Robin heated up some pizza in the oven and sat down to watch the news. He dozed off in the middle of the weather report. He awoke with a start when he heard the alarm going off in the tower. The perimeter had been breached by something. He raced out the door only to find Jay lying on the ground covered with bloody gashes all over. Next to her was a man, also covered in blood, although the man looked more like he had fallen from a great hight. He was wearing a colorful costume and was obviously Romani. Robin faltered. The man... The costume... His worst nightmare...

Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg all rushed out the door.

Cyborg was the first to speak. "We have to get that girl to the med bay. She looks like she could make it. That man though... He's been dead for a while now."

The team didn't ask how he knew, they just picked up Jay and the body and walked into the tower. Raven tried to use her healing magic to fix the gashes that decorated the skin of the pale girl. Robin watched with an angry look on his face. He felt angry that this girl was connected with this death. The man struck at the heart of the boy wonder. It wasn't just the obvious murder, it was the fact that someone knew about his past as Richard Grayson. Either this Jay knew or the person she was pursuing knew. Robin reasoned that Bruce would also be in danger if this was about secret identities. Raven frowned. The blue light of her magic was doing nothing to help the girl. At that moment, Beast Boy accidentally bumped Cy's boom-box and some serious rock started playing. While they fumbled to turn it off, Robin and Raven noticed that Jay was healing while the music played. Robin walked over and turned the music back on. Cy looked at the monitor and noticed that Jay's heartbeat was back to normal. In a few moments, the crystal blue eyes opened and a rosy mouth uttered, "Crap."

Jay POV

When Jay opened her eyes to see the inside of a medical bay and the Teen Titans looking down at her, only one thing ran through her mind. What the heck happened? She remembered pain and slashes all over. Most of the details were fuzzy.

"Crap."

The Titans looked at her in surprise. The overenthusiastic red head asked, "Please, what is this word that you said?"

The blue metal man turned and said, "Um, nothing, Star."

"Star" looked confused but resigned to her friends comment. Jay groaned as she felt the healing ribbon wrap around the tender parts of her body. She rubbed her wrists to see how many ribbons she had left. They grew within her but were limited. It was like she had magic in a physical representation in the ribbons and could use different types of magic. The ribbons were color coded. The pale girl next to the bed turned and whispered something to Robin, the boy in the traffic light costume. Robin looked at Jay and asked in a harsh tone, "Who are you really? Why did you show up on the island? Did you know this man or why he died? How do you know who I am?"

"Slow down, Wonder Bread, I promise I will answer all of your questions, but I would like some dihydrogen monoxide before I begin."

This answer certainly got a reaction from the rest of the titans. Robin frowned more, the green one looked confused along with Star, the pale girl in blue and the metal man smirked as the man gave her a glass of water. After chugging the liquid, Jay prepared to begin her story.

"To begin, my name is Jay. No, it is not the name I was born with so no use checking it to see if I am telling the truth. You can, however, look for the superhero Jay in Hawaii and you will find info on me. I was born in the US and raised by my father. He was the one who made me like I am. From birth I was able to use magic to some degree. This was not enough for my father; he was obsessed with the "perfect human being". He wanted me to be better at using magic and to do that, he gave me these things coming out from my wrists. They are a way to manifest the magic that would normally be intangible for me. Each color represents a different ability. I do not have perfect control over my powers. Strangely enough, I found out that I also have this really strange connection to music. I never told my father, but my magic is enhanced when I listen to music. That's why I have music play when I am fighting. It not only gives me a power boost, it also gives me more control. My father was no great scientist or noble man, he was the scum of the street, the bane of the land. Right now, I am pursuing a villain who has apparently chosen Jump City as his battle ground. He is also a Meta. His power is that he can see into the depths of your soul. He can see your worst fears and your greatest hopes, the ones you hate and the ones you love, the thing you would die for and the thing you avoid like the plague. He then uses that knowledge to exploit your feelings and your loyalties. He begins by murdering people who strike at a nerve in your soul. He finds that secret that you tell no one and he uses it to pick his victim. It will be one killing per day until he has struck at each one of you. He feeds upon your fear and then turns you into a lily-livered coward. After that, your city is his. It will become as Gotham was, run by fear and fear alone. It is happening all around the world, but the cities are too fearful to ask for help. His name is Nightshade. I have been chasing him since he destroyed the city I was living in in Hawaii."

Throughout the story the expressions on the faces of the Titans changes from skepticism to shock to horror. She could see that her story had the desired effect. She needed help to stop Nightshade. He had been hunting her for years; he never could quite figure out what it was that she was truly deeply afraid of. She never let herself care too much about anything in the hopes that it would be her undoing. He crept into your soul and destroyed you from the inside out. The one time that she had gotten attached to someone; her whole city had been obliterated. These Titans seemed like trustworthy people. Perhaps she would be able to rid herself of the abomination once and for all. She had been chasing him for as long as she could remember. It would finally be over. But before that, she. Needed the help and trust of these Teen Titans.

"We believe you," said Robin. "You have our help fighting this "Nightshade" guy."

"Yes," spoke the pretty redhead. "You will have our help in defeating this shade of night."

"Dude!


End file.
